Training troubles (week 6 and 7)

Week 6, my goal was to run 11.5 miles on Saturday. Destination: University Ave (about 2230 north) and up Provo Canyon. I didn't do too well. I completed it but I walked a mile of it. Difficulties I dealt with: weather. It was rainy/snowy and I had icicles hanging off of my mustache (for Mustache March). I didn't bring any water to hydrate myself so my legs and joints cramped and I experienced some knee pain. But I finished 2.5 hours later.

Week 7, my goal was to run 12 miles on Saturday. Destination: same as the previous week. Again, I didn't do too well. I actually only was able to complete 8 miles and I walked the last 2. Difficulties I dealt with: tight schedule with little time to run. Because I had to make it to my wife’s poetry reading in less than three hours, I wasn't sure how long 12 miles would take, since my previous week was unsuccessful. About 6.5 miles into my run, my right foot hurt really bad and I developed a huge blister on my heel. I guess I have to just buck up and buy some new running shoes. According to my wife's cousin, who runs a lot, he recommends buying new shoes at least every six months if you are into long-distance running. I have had my current shoes for eight years. Yeah. It’s about time. Man, I've got to get a less expensive hobby… What do you recommend?

My old shoes

History lesson on technology

What do you think when you see a peer among you using a CD walkman? How do you react when you see someone pull out their flip phone to answer a call?

Many years ago, before iPods and iPhones ruled the earth, there was a time when people had to listen to music on a device called a CD walkman or a cassette walkman.  I don’t have the luxury right now of owning one of these new innovative apple products and I can’t stand talk radio in Utah, so I have no other choice but to listen to books on tape/cd from the library. I just shake off all the comments from everyone else in the office at work like: How are the 90’s treating you?

I hate texting I am now at a place in life where I need it because that is the only way people communicate. I think my wife and I are the only people I know that still own flip phones because everyone uses iPhones. Our phone plan has expired and we are up for a renewal and are looking into possibly a new service and it seems like every phone service is encouraging smart phones, iPhones, and data plans. Do you have a phone plan that works for you and your family?   

As I look at the demographics around me, it seems like those who qualify as impoverished now own an iPhone and a car. I roll my eyes when I see a person using food stamps and surfing the net on their iPhone while waiting in the checkout line at Maceys. So I guess that because I don't own an iPhone, I am below the poverty line.

 I have been talking to all of the starving college students and starting families around me who claim to be so poor that they don’t even have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out of, and yet, they have iPhones, with all the current data that goes with it. I have discovered their secret: their parents! Why buckle down and pay for your own phone plan and your own phone now that you have moved out of the house? You have parents on a family plan! Let them pay for it! After all, God gave you parents and God gave them money! But I digress…

Instead of completely becoming the grumpy old Amish man who flips off modern technology, I have seen the extreme necessity of technology. I know an older associate of mine who has been out of work for a while now, desperately looking for a job but refuses to use the internet. Because our world has become so dependent on the internet, he is still looking for a job. That is why I am cognizant of the need of these annoying devices of social atrophy. So that is why I am asking, what phone plan works for you? And, can I join your parents' family plan?  

Revenge of the Mean Little Kid (week 4)

It was Thursday of week four in training and I was in the basement of the Orem Rec center trying to finish 5 miles on my weekly training schedule. I noticed as I passed the entry way stairwell that there was a little boy staring at me and grinning maniacally. As I passed by him three more times, I noticed that not only was he still staring at me but now he was getting ready to burn out in front of me. Luckily, the next lap was with my cool-down walking pace since I had reached my distance goal for the day. I noticed that this boy was standing in my track line waiting for me to come around again. I paid no attention to him and politely passed by him but now he was walking side-by-side by me. He spoke, “I remember you.” I looked at him and realized it was that same child from the soccer mom who I plowed over a few weeks earlier because he was being a jerk. I said, “Yeah and what of it?” He asked, “Do you want to race fat boy?“ I replied, “How the hell did you get out of the Rec center day care? Your mom is probably looking for you.” He laughed, I showed him how to count to one, and then I left the track.

This is how week four went... How would you guys handle an awkward situation like that?